I know we are not meant to judge a book by its cover but I still buy books and cookbooks because I think the covers are pretty.

I do the same thing with wine.

I was honored that Keith agreed to allow me to feature him on Big Red Diary. I am a big fan of Saarloos & Sons and sent my parents there the following week. It truly is amazing wine. So it is with grape great pleasure that I invite you to share a few moments with the man behind the grapes… Keith Saarloos.

First thing you do in the morning…
I wake up around 5:30, take a shower, kiss everyone while they are still sleeping, and go drink coffee with 85 year old men, these guys are some of my best pals.

Did you grow up on the winery? And how did you get into winemaking…
No, far from it. I grew up in Bellflower California. Kind of a World away from this place.
I got into winemaking by farming as wine isn’t made, it’s grown.

What was the first bottle of wine you made…
a 2002 syrah, no label, no nothing, it was just for our family and friends.

What is your favorite kind of wine…
I really like traditional blends, Bordeaux in style, using new methods.
Basically I like dichotomy, old and new together and on purpose.

Dress code…
I’m lucky, some of my friends own a great clothing company, and they love me, so they keep me from being thread bear. I like to say I am their only sponsored farmer.
I pretty much wear the same thing every day, jeans, old collered shirt, black socks, vest with lots of pockets. I am pretty utility in nature. I’m glad I have people looking out for me.

Favorite color…
I have a five year old daughter, she tells me it’s black, I tend to agree.
but I like orange a lot for things I think are fun.

What are you currently reading…
I learned a long time ago that reading is not my gift, I can bareley spewll, I am an auditory learner.
I consume AUDIBLE.com books by the pound.
Since I am in the car a lot or doing things in the vineyard, having a book that makes going just a little further to hear another chapter is huge!

short answer: the Bible, read by Johnny Cash.

Signature scent…
Coffee, smoke, and sweat.

The most important step in the winemaking process is…
The micro decisions of farming. You perform a small decision like pruning one branch of a vine, 10 times per vine, over the course of acres of vines, makes a difference.
There is no whole, only 10,000 decisions, each of which makes a tendency, or a habit or a style.

What inspires you…
Taking to things that don’t belong together and placing together in a way that makes it effortless, purposeful and elegant.

If you weren’t a winemaker, what would you want to be…
A gameshow host, I would like to have a gameshow with hidden cameras that I just go around asking people questions througout my life and giving them money when it’s correct. They get to play without knowing they are playing.
Like I ask a waitress after dinner if she wants to play double or nothing, where we flip a coin and if she wins I will pay double whatever the check is, for her to keep. and if she loses I pay nothing…. me and my dad do this all the time, it’s really fun (we always pay even if they lose) but to see that spirit come out in what is sometimes a mundane job is awesome!

What’s your favorite part of the winemaking process…
Talking with my dad, about farming, and seeing how other people do it.
Sharing stories about my family with people who are tasting wines from grapes we grew 4 years ago.
Thinking about the future. Its kind of like being a parent, you birth the grapes at harvest, instruct them through the preocess, then bottle them and send them out in the world…

What are some of the challenges you face as a winemaker…
not being particularly bright, and being enthusiastic.

What type of wood do you use for your barrels…
french oak.

Dream guests at a dinner party…
My grandparents, my daughters future husband, my son’s future wife, my whole family by blood or by choice, Johnny Cash. But really I would like to just sit and talk to the 83 year old me, ask him when he looks back where did we go right and what should we avoid, hopefully he says he can’t tell me anything becasue it was the best life we could have and he doesn’t want to jinx anything. I hope he just winks and says, go get it!

What do you serve before dinner…
That’s my wife, I am kind of a dirtbag, and she is the elegant, beautiful, socially correct one. I married way WAY up…. I really never ask what it is she serves, I usually drink it and say I love it.

What are some of your favorite wine and food pairings…
Cupcakes and wine…. of course.
or animal we have raised on our property over a bbq pit full of wood from our property, with our wines.
that’s kind of a special feeling that never fades.

When you’re not drinking your own wines, what are you drinking…
7and7 – it was my grandfathers drink, my fathers drink, my drink.
not so much as I love the taste as I love the tradition.

Three things always in your refrigerator…
ICE. orange juice, tortillas.

Favorite neighborhood/local spots in Santa Barbara county…
I like Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos for a Sunday nite for supper.
The Mav – when I get a hall pass and friends are in town.
mostly its back yard bbq’s around here.

Top 3 favorite hotels…
the Parker Palm Springs.
anything Boutique nationally.
my friend’s couches, or guest rooms when my wife is with me.

Favorite place to holiday or what is your dream trip…
where ever the WHOLE family picks to go next year.
Every year ALL of the Saarloos’ go somewhere and rent a place for a week or so.
we never even really leave the house.
its pretty great.

What do you pack…
some general clothes, imac, wine, meat, and a car full of essentials for the kids.

Signature drink…
ice coffee, with 3 shots.

Once a day I…
pray for providence.

Top 3 favorite restaurants (anywhere in the world)…
Home (when we have company and my wife is going to go off!! nothing better on earth)
Full of life Flatbread, Los Alamos. (just good food locally)
Just for the Halibut, Rosarito, Mexico (some of the best meals of my youth in context)

What’s currently on your Ipod playlist…
I have 220 gigs of music. we now make playlists by mood/timeofday/dayofweek/
but as a staple…Blackkeys / Blakroc / fugazi / mashups

Iphone or blackberry or regular mobile…
ANDROID…. is the future. and I for one welcome our google overlords.

If you could go anywhere in the world with 4 of your best friends for 4 days, no budget – where would you go…
surfing….lefts….long….idontcarewhere….. the question was the answer

Coffee or tea…
coffee….

Three things one must do in Santa Barbara…
1. walk, it’s the only way to ingest a place. walk to La Superica, to walk State Street, walk to the mission, walk to the courthouse, walk to the beach.
2. go on a cloud climbers jeep tour from SB to the Valley to go wine tasting. (seriously)
3. drive around with your windows down from Montecito to Goleta on the back roads then drive over refugio (4×4) tool around the valley then drive out Foxen to Santa Maria and back to SB on 154… you will have seen all of CALIFORNIA in 3 hours.

You won’t leave home without…
phone, keys, kisses. knife.

Starbucks order…
Hate starbucks. only local indipendent coffee houses.
but 4 shots in a lage cup of ice.

Preferred method of communication…
hand shakes.

Greatest party/event you’ve ever been to…
anything my wife throws… always over the top.
example… our crush party. they wrote about it in Santa Barbara Magazine…
she is so much better than me.

Favorite quote…
[family creed] “We live to honor those that have come before us and to prepare the way for those yet to come” amen.

On the weekends, I live for…
People to come to the tasting room to make feel like it’s their home… people who are scared of wine, we take them behind the curtain and show them it’s not scary it’s fun, wine is about connecting people, not elitism.

we throw snobs out of the tasting room in dramatic fashion!

Every night I…
stem on all the things that have happened up to this point, obsess about what I want to happen, and sleep without dreaming.

How do you spend your Sundays or day of rest…
I go to work, it feels like sinning if I don’t.
then again my kids and wife are here all the time.
it’s not really work,
I just have the House everyone comes to, to hang out.
Try some wine and have a great day.
hopefully they buy some so I can keep doing it.

and thats what I do for a living.
I put my family’s soul in a bottle, and then sell it, one at a time, to people I like.

3 things you are grateful for..
My God.
My Family.
My Nieve enthusiasm.

Every one has their demons, do you know yours by name? If so, what are they…
Dicotamy is the one that runs my life.

177 contemporary art dealers. 67 modern art dealers. “The Armory Show is America’s leading fine art fair devoted to the most important art of the 20th and 21st centuries.”

A friend who is an art dealer in Montreal was in town for The Armory and invited me to the VIP opening day and I was delighted to attend but had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought I would be there for an hour, say hello.. see some art and head home to hang with Dolce. I realized I was in for a treat as everyone walking into the show was wearing such fun and unique outfits! I could easily be a fly on the wall and just people watch. We spent hours meandering through all of the booths. It was amazing to be there with someone who actually knows a thing or two about art. From the art, to the all of the creative people, it was such fun a day. I arrived at the show at 3:34 and didn’t leave until it closed at 9pm that evening. We concluded the evening with a dinner at Bagatelle (of course) and a private art party. J’adore!

I was a HUGE fan of french braids when I was in middle school. I went through one entire school year of forcing my mother to french braid my hair a different way every day and I would go as many days as possible without repeating the same style. Diagonal french braids, horizontal french braids, inverted french braids (the tail ended in a high pony that crowned my head), inside out french braids.. multiple french braids at the same time. I wanted the most unique braids. I loved that no other girls at school had french braids like mine. If only we had taken photos of all our different creations. My mother and I would make up our own braids. It was the best.

According to style.com the hair trend for SPRING is the side braid and all of the braids gracing the runway shows remind me of the days I would braid my hair every single day. In college I went through a phase of teeny tiny braids that I would secure in a bun and wrap in a silk scarf.. I thought it was tres chic. And when I let out my braids I looked like Medusa. Viola. I loved it. Just the other day my sister suggested I dress up as myself circa 1999 for Hallloween one year. Heck, I may do it this weekend just for giggles.

love is patient,
love is kind and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
love never fails;
but now faith, hope, love abide in these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4

Santa Barbara is a very special place to me. I lived in SB for 5 years however the city has changed a lot since the days when I was a local.. it is still breathtakingly beautiful and I could live there in a heartbeat. I was delighted when one of my best friends invited me to Santa Barbara for a girls weekend filled with shopping, strolling the streets of downtown and wine tasting. Even though we were in town for 6 days, I feel that I ran out of time of all of the things I wanted to do! Now I have a reason to go back.

A few of my favorite spots in Santa Barbara:

Four Seasons Biltmore. The hotel is gorgeous, the landscaping is gorgeous – the flowers and trees are so lush and every inch of space is picturesque.. it’s steps from the ocean.. how more perfect can it get? When my parents stay there my mother and I always go for a morning walk over the hills and through the trees of the neighborhood until we reach the beach boardwalk of downtown Santa Barbara. It’s our favorite walk. I also love the complimentary coffee and tea station the hotel sets out each morning. I usually sit in the lobby and read the paper and people watch and often bump into a random person or two I know. This trip I bumped into a guy I met in St Barths 10 years ago.

Cava. The decor of this Spanish restaurant is precious and on a pretty day it’s wonderful to sit outside. Each table is set with a small jar of crayons for doodling on the paper table cloths. Love that! We played hangman. And had so much fun we lost track of time and were one of the last to leave. Make sure to ask for the waiter Gus (the Brazilian) and order a hand shaken margarita.

The Coffee Bean. regular vanilla ice blended with whip… need I say more.

Wine Cask. We actually sat on the bar side of this restaurant and the bartender mentioned that I looked familiar. I explained that I went to college here and it turns out he was the manager of Chad’s.. a restaurant that my best friend and I frequented on a weekly basis because 1) the waiters were all so cute 2) the restaurant was housed in a Victorian house and I just thought it was so cool. Unfortunately Chad’s has closed down. But thankfully we have Wine Cask! We befriended a wine snob and he suggested the we order a glass of Curran Grenache Blanc as Wine Cask is one of the few spots that carry it.

Patrick’s Side Street Cafe in Los Olivos (wine country). My friend from college recommended that we have lunch here and suggested we make a reservation as it gets packed. I called once I arrived in SB. The guy on the phone said “Sorry Stefani but we do not take reservations.” I was a bit confused as to how he knew my name… good old caller ID. The guy I was talking to was Patrick.. the owner and chef. I told him I was in town from NYC and have high expectations as we had heard great things about his cafe… he said I was in for a treat.

Saarloos And Sons Tasting Room in Los Olivos (wine country). As soon as I walked in, I wanted to move in! I loved the decor. I loved everything about it. My brother Cameron and I had the pleasure of meeting and tasting the wines with Keith, one of the sons and owners. The wines were superb. I loved all of them and literally was not ready to leave but my carriage ride back to SB was departing. But I knew I would be back. This place I love.

Cold Spring Tavern. An old stagecoach stop on the top of the hills of Santa Barbara. This is one experience that you must check out at least once. It’s over 120 years old! And it hasn’t changed one bit. It’s magical and comforting at the same time. Try not to fill up on the homemade breads in the bread basket as the steaks of course are amazing. Be careful driving home!

Municipal Winemakers. I randomly stumbled upon the website of Municipal Winemakers last week as I was researching for this trip. I emailed the founder and owner, Dave Potter and was thrilled to receive his reply. Superbowl Sunday I convinced my brother Cameron to come with me to the Municipal tasting room located in downtown SB as long as I had Cameron home before kick off. Cam and I both enjoyed the wines and chatting with Dave. My favorite wine was Fizz, a sparking red.. it’s absolutely delicious!!
I will definitely be back for more!

These are only a handful of my favorite spots. I do hope to be back soon. God willing.

I am saddened by the tragic news of the sudden death of Lee McQueen, designer and founder of my all time favorite fashion brand Alexander McQueen.
He was a genius, a true artistic craftsman and an absolute brilliant designer.

I met Lee McQueen in Los Angeles a few years ago. At the Chateau Marmont. I told him I would love for him to design my wedding dress someday but hadn’t met my husband yet. He gave me high five and said me neither but do let me know when you do and I’d be happy to design your dress. A moment I will remember forever. May he rest in peace.

City Bakery’s Hot Chocolate Festival
a different flavor of hot chocolate each day for the month of February
need I say more

Love,
Love always,
Lots of love,
Regards,
Kind regards,
Warm regards,
Best,
Peace be with you,
God bless,
Blessings,
Love and blessings,
Love and prayers,
Many thanks,
Ciao for now,
One love,
Take care,
Cheers,
Hugs and kisses,
XOXO
xoxo
xxx
xx
X

What does one’s salutation say about them?

I personally love my mother’s salutation of love and prayers. Those two words summarize the essence of my mother. She is all about love and prayers.. two things in life that I couldn’t imagine living without. Sometimes I do borrow her salutation but it doesn’t feel right as it is so perfect for her and I don’t feel worthy.

For the past few years or so I’ve signed everything from hand written notes to emails and texts with xx or xxx. No hugs. Only kisses.
And sometimes I’ll send more than three.. xxxxxxx

Today, for whatever reason, I suddenly thought of a new salutation to brand myself with:
Kisses and cupcakes.. two things that I love and personally could not live without.

So on that note my dears…
I send you lots of kisses and cupcakes!!

I uploaded recent pictures from my camera last night and discovered a few new ones from my recent trip to Miami… and this one in particular captures a few of my favorite things – sunshine, the ocean, palm trees, sunglasses the size of googles, vespas…

Message-in-a-Cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma…. ummm, DARLING.

There are days when I am so bothered by the rain and all I want is sunshine and clear days and for the rain to go away and come another day.

In the same sentence, there are also days in which I embrace the rain..

Today is one of those days. The melodious rumble of the rainfall outside provides a wonderful excuse to stay home and ponder, dream, pray, reflect and hope.

For breakfast I treated myself to something uber hearty and wholesome:

Hot Quinoa Cereal:

Bring 1/2 cup of quinoa and 1 cup of hemp milk to a boil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour into a bowl and sprinkle with a dash of cinnamon and top with a little extra splash of hemp milk. And voila! It’s so delicious you will be tempted to make another batch.

“let’s just go downtown for brunch and enjoy the day..”
famous last words of yours truly.

Saturday was a beautiful day here in New York. And there is only one way of showing my brothers how the New Yorkers like to spend their Saturdays…
one word: brunch.
My youngest brother Cameron threatened to skip brunch because of the football games, but I casually reminded him kickoff wasn’t until 4ish and I knew my biggest only challenge was to get him to the brunch spot and once he was there he would never leave. He loves music more than football so I knew it was a done deal once he spotted the live deejay at the restaurant.

So our itinerary was simple:
11am – my friend’s daughter’s RockNRoll one year old birthday bash
2:30pm – brunch at Revel
6pm – home

My brother Brandon was up early and kindly joined me for the 1 year old birthday bash and then we headed downtown to Meatpacking as I really wanted to show him around a few spots before brunch. We started off at The Standard for lattes but there were no bar stools available and the rude couple next to us would not give us the extra bar stool as they continued to occupy it for their jackets and handbag. Rude. Obvi they are not locals.

Next stop: Bagatelle. We graduated to a mimosa.. heck, it was already noon-ish, might as well get a jump start on the day.
Next we head one block over to Revel for brunch.

Three hours later, the four of us kids are each standing on our chairs and in full dance mode. Of course, it’s no secret that I love to dance and was actually one of the first to stand up and start shaking my tail feathers shoulders.. my signature move. I was ready to shake shake shake and get the party started. And my siblings also LOVE to dance. There was no mention of football or kickoff or anything of that nature. There was dancing to be done. And dancing we did. We danced the afternoon away until they kicked everyone out at 6pm.

Next stop: Tortilla Flats. It’s my favorite post-brunch spot if you’re wanting to continue the festivities. We were kicked out after an hour because of a dinner reservation….

Next stop: Barbuto. We were able to sit at the bar as none of the other patrons used the bar stools for storage. I ordered two lattes as this Royal Energizer Bunny was having a hard time keeping up with the crew.

I told myself: this is what I’ve been training for. My brothers are only in town for the weekend. I know we rarely get to hang out all 4 of us together. The dogs were gonna have to survive another few hours as I knew if I went home there was no way I would make it back out of the house. I only had 2 options: keep going or call it a night. But really, deep in my heart I knew I only had one option: to keep going. It was more important for me to spend this time with my brothers than to get my beauty sleep.

Next stop: RDV, the downstairs lounge at Bagatelle. We danced again, for 3 more hours and Cameron, my youngest brother has got rhythm like no one else I know and commanded the attention of the other party revelers.

Our day turned into night and before we knew it, my watch read 3am and this little bunny was ready to call it a night. Thankfully the kids agreed as we had a full day of football the next day and there was no way my brothers would miss the Cowboy game.

Another amazing marathon. We heard Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind at least 2 dozen times throughout the course of the day. One brother loves the song, the other was tired of it playing every hour. What can I say, only in New York. This is how we do it in New York. A New York brunch party requires a New York state of mind.